Rebirth
by manonthe3up
Summary: A mysterious person has appeared in gensokyo. However, it's not his first time here. It's his first time as a human-like youkai, though. I sometimes add funny comments in, too. Reviews and critics are welcome. Currently delayed, but still alive!
1. Prologue: Rebirth

I don't own Touhou. It belongs to ZUN. I thought it would be cool to write a fanfic about a character who isn't actually a character. The prologue is about the character's reflection on the events leading up to the first chapter. Read ahead and enjoy my mind juice. I will update it when I feel like it.

* * *

I woke up to the sound of birds, chirping annoyingly. I instinctively reached for my hair with my hand... wait, hand? Indeed, I had a hand now; two of them, in fact. And attached to them were arms. And they were connected to the rest of my new body. My... human-like body.

From what I could see, I had a light beige skin tone, as opposed to my previous dark brown. I was rather short and skinny, being only 5'2" in height. Oddly enough, I had clothes on; how they got there, I had no clue. Despite never wearing clothing before, it felt natural for me to wear it now. I had a pair of worn-out brown pants, dark brown swirling patterns lining the edges. The legs reached my ankles, bulging out as they did. I also seemed to have an olive green short-sleeved shirt on, as well as a light brown leather vest over it.

I shook my head while massaging my eyes, thinking about what had happened up until I blacked out. The obvious questions rattled my brain. How long was I out? Why am I in this new body? Why did she do what she did? I attempted to stand, but had to use a nearby tree to stay upright. Ironically, it was a cherry blossom tree. I chuckled, realizing both that I was in a similar position as the humans in the past, and that I wouldn't want the roles reversed.

Being able to stand on my own, I walked toward a nearby river, noting my appearance. I had a different type of hair, but it still had the radiant pink color it always had. I noticed that I had red irises. I sighed, relieved that I was still a youkai. I had a young charmer's face; people could mistake me for being only in my early twenties. I greeted my reflection with a simple hello to test out my voice. It sounded unnaturally deep, to the point of sounding omniscient.

I looked up from my reflection to survey my surroundings. There was a lake in front of me, obviously. Beyond the lake, however, I spied an island. A mansion rested upon that island, a clock tower jutting from the roof. Sensing the power coming from that direction, as well as being faced with the fact that I couldn't swim, I chose to travel elsewhere. As soon as I turned around, however, a cold pain washed over my back. I turned around, reaching my hand out in an attempt to choke the one responsible, only to find a blue fairy in mid-air, being strangled by a tree root. I quickly retracted my hand, realizing I had subconsciously controlled the root, which disappeared into the earth. The fairy passed out, but was still breathing. I cared little however, as I had learned about my new-found power. I walked away, smiling and chuckling happily to myself. I was reborn.

I am Saigyou Ayakashi.


	2. Chapter 1: The Village

AN: The story from here on will be in third-person. Also, on an unrelated note, I just got Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. I give it a 8.523/10. Yes, I have a complex raring system involving random numbers. What of it?

Oh, and a call-out to whoever finds the indie game title reference!

* * *

Chapter 1: The Village

Saigyou Ayakashi had walked for nearly five hours, and the sun was beginning to set. In the time he traveled, he had nearly perfected his abilities. He could make trees move in any way he wished, from causing a single cherry blossom to fall, to making a tree walk on it's roots. He could also control the cherry blossoms themselves in the form of danmaku. However, he had gotten rather hungry from practicing, and the berries he came across during his travel only made him hungrier.

Suddenly, he caught the scent of something delicious, and began to follow the smell. He did not know what the smell was, but it made his stomach growl loudly with anticipation. Saigyou also predicted that the smell would lead him to civilization, giving him a chance to make a living. In his opinion, he might as well try, since his new body could be killed easier.

By the time Saigyou reached the source, it was near midnight. The moon was nearly full, illuminating the town in front of him. As he entered the town, he saw multiple stores, most of them closed. Some still had their light on, taking the nightly youkai customers. He noticed one the few stores remaining open had what appeared to be loaves of different breads. There was a lone man handing them out to the youkai in exchange for yen. Saigyou knew he had nothing to buy it with, but he was hungry, so he decided to try a different method: bargaining.

He walked towards the man, who had just finished handing a loaf to a young girl. She had long silver hair with blue highlights. She wore a strange blue hat that looked like a house, a red ribbon attached to the roof. She also had on a dark blue dress, adorning a similar red ribbon, over a white short-sleeved shirt. Saigyou stepped out of her way as she walked past him. As he continued towards the bread vendor, the girl stopped and turned around, looking at him more closely, before resuming her walking. This went unnoticed by Saigyou, as his only focus was food.

He approached the man calmly. "Excuse me, sir?" he said, getting the man's attention.

"I haven't seen you in the village before, sir." He said, still conducting business with other customers. "What can I get for you today, newcomer?"

"I was wondering..." He paused, thinking of the best way to say it. "... I do not have anything to give, but if you can give me some food, I could keep thieves from stealing from you."

The man's interest piqued. "Actually, I do lose bread quite often since I pay little attention to it. I find that if I focus on the customer, they feel confident with my abilities, therefore giving me more customers."

Saigyou's goal was within reach. "So if I guard your bread, I can have some, correct?"

"Yes, help yourself to a loaf." The man said happily. "Thank you, mister..."

It took Saigyou a second to realize that the man wished to know his name. His previous form, the true Saigyou Ayakashi, was bound to be known by at least a handful of people. If knowledge got out that he was back, he would be pursued. Unwilling to use his real name, he thought of something different, but not to different so that he wouldn't be comfortable being called it.

"It's Ayouka, Sagi Ayouka. Just Sagi is fine though," he said, hoping the name wouldn't be made fun of in the near future.

"Okay then, Sagi. Stand by the bread, just don't get too close. You might make the bread soggy." The man laughed for a bit. "I'm sorry, you must get that a lot."

"Just do your job, and I'll do mine," Saigyou replied through clenched teeth. If he ever had to kill, he hoped that the man would be close enough to get 'accidentally' impaled by a rouge tree branch. He stood by the bread, grabbing a loaf and taking bites occasionally.

When the youkai left, it was near daybreak, the sky already losing stars in the increasingly-visible blue color. Saigyou didn't think he'd be here this long. He left without giving the man any warning, having wasted more time than he wished. He walked around the village, looking for a place to rest. He hated the limitations of his body. It needed specific nutrients to survive, and even then, it still had to rest. His old body could just stay still, and gain nutrients from the soil and sun, with a human here and there. The only plus his new body had was the increased mobility. He found a comfortable spot under a tree, and fell asleep, his back on the trunk.

When Saigyou awakened, the sun was in the sky. Judging by the shadows, it was around nine in the morning. He looked at the spectacle it front of him. People were walking all over the place. In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have slept in the area with the shops. There was also a crowd of kids in front of a building, larger than the others, cheering off in the distance. Curious, Saigyou got up and went to investigate.

He walked up to the mass of children and decided to speak to one of the older ones. He chose a young girl, around 13 years of age, out of the heads sticking out from the top of the bunch.

Saigyou asked the obvious question. "Why are all of you cheering?"

"Miss Keine isn't here today, so the school is closed! Now we get a day off!" The girl couldn't have said that any louder or happier.

Saigyou quickly left the kids before he went deaf. Awake for only five minutes, and he already had a headache. He decided he would attempt to make some money by helping out around the village. He spotted a well on the outskirts of town after a bit of looking for a shop in desperate need of assistance. Bored, he decided to look into it. There was little to no water left in it, and there were roots from various trees protruding from the worn-out stone wall. But what it lacked in appearance and water, it made up for in yen. Coins littered the bottom of the well to the extent of obscuring the view of the floor.

Saigyou realized that this was a wishing well. The wishes gave the gods and goddesses in Gensokyo power to give miracles out to those who believe. The money, however, did nothing, and was fair game to Saigyou. He controlled the roots in the well to grab the coins. After carefully extracting about 3000 yen (~$33.42) in coins, he left the well and returned to the shops. He left all the small coins in the well, so he didn't have to carry a suspicious amount of money by holding out his shirt as a makeshift bag. He spent the rest of the day sampling different foods, his favorite being lamprey from a night sparrow, who failed at conning him into buying more. As the sun set, Saigyou decided he would venture outside the village to explore. He prepared by buying a rather large sword, about eight inches wide and five feet long, from an unusual store run by an odd guy people called Kourindou. If any rogue youkai attacked him, he wouldn't hesitate to counter it.

The red full moon began to appear over the horizon as darkness took over the sky. Saigyou had just left the town. He heard various rumors about current events. He planned on checking out the closest one. Apparently a certain blue fairy is attempting to make a fortress out of ice in the lake he woke up near. He also felt he should apologize for choking her, even if he meant to do it.

About an hour into his trek, he was within a deep forest. Luckily, he knew which way to go, since the moss on the trees functioned as a impromptu compass. Soon, he came across a clearing. Thinking that now would be a good place to rest, he stabbed his sword into the ground. Suddenly, he felt something new; two things, actually.

Unbelievable heat and blinding pain.

Saigyou was launched ten feet into a nearby tree with enough force to kill a human. Luckily, he was a youkai. He fell to the ground, before pulling himself up. Dazed, he turned around to face two people. One had ankle-long violet hair, with a red and white paper charm acting as a bow in it. She wore what appeared to be red suspenders, patched up with the same paper charms, over a burnt red shirt. To her left was the same girl Saigyou met at the bread guy's place, except with a green dress, green highlights, and two horns instead of a hat. The red bow from the hat was on her left horn.

The fact that the girl on the right (Saigyou's right is the girls' left ow my head) was partially on fire, as well as the fact that they were floating in the air, told Saigyou everything he didn't want to know. The blue girl, who was a were-hakutaku, somehow knew who he was, and spent the whole day getting reinforcements. He was also outnumbered and outgunned, his BFS (Big Freaking Sword) ten feet away. Also, they could fly while he was stuck on the ground. And fire doesn't help trees any, either. No matter how he saw it, he would have to fight, and he would most likely lose and... *puts on glasses*

...kick the (well) bucket. (Insert CSI "YEAH!!" scream here)

* * *

Wow, that took about 10 hours to write. Did you find the hidden indie game reference? Post it in the review section if you did. Oh, and the end was inspired by both Kimiko Muffin's recent comic and Shagg's Let's Play Star Fox 64 series on Youtube.


	3. Chapter 2: New Enemies and an Old Friend

Saigyou didn't want to fight anyone, especially in his injured state. Even with the sword, he was still outnumbered, and a forest fire this deep in the forest would kill him, either through smoke inhalation or being burned alive. He wasn't immortal anymore, so he couldn't kill those he didn't like without consequences. Sighing to himself, he attempted to converse with the hostile ladies.

"Who are you and why did you try to vaporize me?" he said, rather calmly. He felt that if he would be civilized, so would they.

"How did you come back?" the green were-hakutaku asked tensely, completely ignoring his questions.

Saigyou realized that they knew who he was, despite his new appearance. Playing dumb would just make the situation worse. Sighing, he tried to answer the question. "Honestly, I don't know. I simply–."

"I already know what you did, Saigyou," the green girl said. "And so far, what you have done since you returned is questionable at best. Therefore, Mokou and I are going to remove you from Gensokyo before you do something horrible to it or it's people." At these words, she dashed towards Saigyou.

He summoned a wall of roots to block the were-hakutaku, who quickly fired a barrage of danmaku in an attempt to break it. Saigyou jumped out of the way as the roots were shredded by the assault. Just as he landed, however, the red girl, Mokou, attacked from above, slamming him into the ground in a fiery explosion. In agony, Saigyou summoned a root, which quickly impaled Mokou from behind, who fell dead on top of him as the root retracted back into the earth. He immediately pushed the corpse off of him and stood to face the charging horns of the green girl. As she approached Saigyou, he commanded the trees behind him to drop their cherry blossoms. As they fell, he fired them at her. Not expecting this, the were-hakutaku panicked, quickly forgeting about her target and focusing on dodging the now-deadly blossoms. Saigyou decided to take this opportunity and began to sprint for his sword, only to be stopped by a wall of fire in front of him. He turned around, not expecting Mokou to be standing there, completely unscathed by the impaling.

"You will not lay a finger on that sword, demon tree," Mokou said, completely covered in fire. "Immortal 「Fire Bird -Flying Phoenix-」!"

Saigyou barely dodged the blasts of fire that followed those words. Preoccupied with Mokou, he had no chance to dodge the barrage of lasers that came from his left. The impact sent him flying dozens of feet into the air. Mokou followed Saigyou until he stopped rising. She then rammed into him and forced him into the center of a peaceful meadow. Anything within a 20-foot radius was set ablaze around a 10-foot wide crater, which was three feet deep. Mokou jumped off of Saigyou, who struggled to his feet. He saw the green girl emerge from the forest to join the fray once more. Saigyou was bloodied and bruised, his left arm broken and limp at his side. His mouth dripped blood constantly due to at least two crushed, non-essential organs. As both girls charged for another barrage of bullets, he closed his eyes, preparing for his end. He heard two consecutive explosions, coupled with an ungodly bright light shining through his eyelids. He waited or their attacks to hit.

Nothing happened.

A few seconds after the light show ended, Saigyou opened his eyes. About five feet in front of him was a person he had seen a multitude of times in his previous life. Someone he had not even expected to see, despite the current location. Someone he didn't even think would live longer than him, given her cocky attitude when fighting others. In front of him was a green-haired girl wearing a red-and-white plaid outfit. She was screaming obscenities and laughing maniacally whilst firing pillars of light from her parasol. Her targets were his two attackers, who were now fleeing in terror from an identically-looking girl doing the same. When they disappeared over the horizon. The girl turned around and stared at Saigyou with intrigue. After about a minute, she finally talked.

"Do I... know you from somewhere? You look familiar for some reason."

He took a deep breath, he replied, "My name is Saigyou Ayakashi."

The girl narrowed her eyes. "_Really_? Forgive me for saying this, but I'm going to need proof."

"Your name is Yuka Kazami. You occasionally talked to me, as I was a very unique plant," Saigyou said.

The girl, now known as Yuka, scoffed. "So? I talked to a lot of plants in my life. It's easy for somebody to assume that."

To that, Saigyou simply said, "Scarlet panty raid."

"O-okay, stop! I believe you!" she yelled, panicky. "But, if you really are the Saigyou Ayakashi, how come you look like you do now?"

"It's kind of a long story, and if you hadn't noticed yet, I feel like shit." Saigyou already felt the adrenaline leaving his body, being replaced by aches, pain, and tunnel vision.

"Don't worry, you won't die. I take care of plants, so I'll take care of you." Yuka said. It was the last thing he heard before darkness took over.

* * *

When he woke up, he was on a bed in a room with flowers in it. "Why did I expect this?" he asked himself sarcastically, shaking his head. As he got up, he noticed he looked as good as new, despite the condition he was in earlier. He exited the room into a hallway to look for Yuka. As soon as the door opened, he heard her voice.

"About time you woke up," she said.

Saigyou followed the voice and turned a corner. Yuka was sitting in a kitchen, sipping tea lazily. "You don't sound too happy. What, are you actually _not_ a morning person?" He chuckled as he sat down and poured himself some tea into an extra cup.

"No, I'm not, and I didn't say you could have my tea, Saigyou." She glared at him menacingly.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't know," he said as he poured it back in the teapot. "So how did you manage to heal me? I don't recall you being able to heal others that fast."

Yuka giggled. "First off, you were out for three days."

"Wait, what!? Three days!?" Saigyou blurted out, stunned.

"Second," Yuka continued, ignoring him, "I tested out the method I use to heal myself on you, and you healed relatively quickly."

Still slightly miffed about the previous statement, he became thoroughly cunfused. "Okay, but how? I'm not a youkai tree anymore. How did it work?"

"True, you are no longer a youkai tree. You are, however, still a tree youkai, although humanoid in shape," Yuka responded, rather proud of knowing more than Saigyou.

He sat there for a moment, thinking about what this meant. "So, if I'm a tree youkai, then I can do the same things as I could before? Including using sunlight as food?"

"Other than the weaker body, pretty much,"She replied.

Saigyou began to smile. The smile guickly gave way to chuckling. "I could have easily avoided the issue with those two girls." Suddenly, a new thought entered his head. Immediately, his expression turned serious. "Yuka, I need to be stronger. I must be prepared for a fight, should I be unable to talk my way out of one. Seeing as both of us are pllant youkai–?"

"Sure, I don't see why not." she chimed, before taking another sip of tea.

* * *

Two days later...

"Why won't you stand still!?" one Yuka yelled, firing off a Dual Spark as the other fired at Saigyou from the side. He nimbly dogded through the air, barely missing the second shot.

"'Cause your Dual Spark hurts like hell!" he replied, before sending a barrage of blossoms back at her. He had trained exceptionally well over the past two days. In the short amount of time, he had honed his abilities. Capable of firing danmaku at a high rate, he overwhelmed the two Yukas with a literal explosion of petals. They both fell to the ground, exhausted. Saigyou quickly landed to help the Yukas, who became a single one just before he arrived.

"Damn... I didn't even... hold back that time..." Yuka panted, holding herself up by her hands and knees.

He extented a hand towards her. "Do you need help getting up, or are you going to stay here and watch then flowers grow?"

Yuka pushed his hand away as she got herself up. "Shut up, I'm fine... I just need... to rest..." Catching her breath, she continued. "Your skills have gotten too good for me, Saigyou. If we keep this up, my stubbornness will be the end of me. Besides, I taught you all you need to know." she said, smiling.

"Thank you." he said. Yuka began to walk to her home, so he followed her. "Listen, I've been thinking..."

"About what?" Yuka asked.

"About what I'm going to do exactly. I can't go killing randomly again, right?"

"True."

"So I think I'll just explore and see what has changed since I died."

"I think you'll like doing that. You missed quite a bit," Yuka stated, having reached her house. "So, will you be leaving now?"

"Yes, I will. I'll see you later, alright?" Saigyou said, turning around. As he approached the exit of her territory, which was 'guarded' by a currently-sleeping woman, he heard Yuka yell, "Don't you _dare_ tell anyone anything about the stuff I told you back then!!"

Saigyou chuckled as he went through the threshold.


	4. Chapter 3: Just Add Plot Thickener

Saigyou's first destination was the lake he first woke up at. He still owed an apology to the ice fairy he met before. Having learned to fly, something that surprised him on how easy it was to do, he decided to favor that over walking. He flew under the cover of the trees, unsure of how many people knew he was back ever since the battle. Even if everyone knew, he still didn't want to fight. As night fell over the forest, he chose to make a quick detour.

* * *

He walked into the village, looking around for any residents walking about in the moonlit night. Seeing none, he began his mission. If he succeeded, he wouldn't be attacked too much. If he failed, he would have to live out his life in hiding. He approached the doors to the building the kids were once clustered in front of when he was here last. Nervously, he knocked on the door. He waited for a few seconds, until the blue-clad woman opened the door, rubbing her eyes.

"What do you wa–?" she lazily said, before she looked up at the visitor. "Wh-wha–?" Obviously, she hadn't expected him to come here.

Saigyou, with a serious look on his face, said, "Can I come in? I wish to talk about our last encounter."

"U-uh..." The girl was absolutely speechless from shock. Quickly, she gained her composure. "How did you survive!?" she loudly whispered, her voice barely containing her inner fury. "Yuka killed you!"

"She drove you two away, and only saw me after you left. The only things threatening my life were you and the fire girl," Saigyou corrected.

"And for good reason!" she interrupted, no lo. "Who knows what you were planning to do!?"

Saigyou was starting to get agitated. "I was planning to leave the village to–"

She didn't let him finish. "To what!? To figure out how to revive your old tree body!? To get revenge on that lady who stupidly killed herself when there were other ways to–!?"

Saigyou slammed his fist into her gut, sending her to the ground, clutching her stomach in agony. "Don't you _ever_ talk bad about her!" he yelled, his rage momentarily getting the best of him. "She killed herself to rid the world from me before I killed again! If she didn't, I would...!" He stopped himself, taking a deep breath to calm down. Looking at the woman writhing in pain before him, he said, "Listen, I know what I did back then was cruel, but I've changed since then. I'd rather not repeat history and get killed again. If you don't believe me, fine. Just don't tell others I'm back to kill everything. You would be spreading lies." As he finished talking, Saigyou summoned a thin root from the ground, which swiftly entered the girls belly. After a second, it returned to the earth. "That will numb the pain. If you want to talk in a civil manner, let me know," he said as he began to fly off towards his intended destination.

* * *

The sun was beginning to rise as he approached the lake. What Saigyou saw surprised him. At the edge of the lake was a small fortress made of ice, about the size of a small house. Inside, he noticed two fairies, one being the one he wanted to see, through the translucent ice wall. They were sitting, apparently having a conversation.

"Excuse me? Can I speak to you for a moment?" he inquired to the slightly distorted fairies.

The two fairies' heads looked up and towards him. The smaller one looked back at the taller one and whispered something inaudibly. The tall one nodded, and they simply stood there, the tall one shaking her head slowly. After about half a minute, Saigyou realized they were being silent to avoid detection.

"Um, you _do _know that I can see you, right?" he reminded them.

"No, you can't!" The small one replied, slightly muffled by the ice walls. The tall one sighed loudly, walking out of the miniature fortress.

"I'm sorry, but Cirno doesn't want to see you right now. Please leave," she said to Saigyou.

"Look, I just want to apologize to the girl. I feel rather bad about what I did. I didn't even mean to choke her," he explained, smiling inwardly at the fact that the girl in front of him was more civil that the were-hakutaku.

"_Choke her?_ She said you swung a tree at her," she said before giving a glare at the blue fairy in the ice fort. "Cirno, come here!"

As the fairy exited the fortress, the expression on her face showing that she knew she was caught, Saigyou asked the tall fairy something that was bugging him since he arrived. "So, are you her mother, or something?"

"No, we're just good friends," she replied, chuckling slightly. "By the way, my name is Daiyousei."

"Sagi," he replied, deciding to use his alias.

As the two finished conversing, the blue fairy, identified as Cirno, approached Daiyousei with a smile. "What is it, Dai?"

"You lied to me, Cirno," she replied in a stern voice. "What did I say about lying?"

Cirno's smile quickly faded. "But eye didn't lie!" she defended herself.

"You exaggerated the facts you told me. That's the same thing as lying," Daiyousei stated, scolding her.

"Eye'm sorry..." Cirno solemnly said, drooping her head.

Daiyousei's strict behavior towards Cirno softened. "That's good." She turned to Saigyou. "Now it's you turn."

He crouched down to the now teary-eyed Cirno. "Hey, I'm sorry for choking you," he said, sounding like a father calming down a crying child. "You startled me, and I thought you were a threat. Can I do anything to make up for what I did?"

The little blue fairy's head jolted up, no longer crying. "Play with us!" she yelled hopefully.

Saigyou laughed at the simple request. "How could I refuse?" he questioned, as he followed Cirno into the ice fortress.

* * *

Saigyou stood on the top of the fort, accompanied by a hyped-up Cirno and a smiling Daiyousei. When he first heard about what the game they were playing was, he momentarily questioned the ethics of it. After a little pleading, he finally decided to play with them.

"Ready?" he asked the blue fairy, who was currently zigzagging around the icy building.

"Pull!" Cirno shouted.

No sooner than the words left her mouth did Saigyou command a few nearby lily pads to rocket up a foot and suddenly stop, launching whatever happened to be on them into the air. Cirno then proceeded to fire ice blasts at the former residents of said lily pads: frogs. One by one, they were frozen in mid-air. Saigyou was surprised at Cirno's aim. He watched as the frozen frogs fell into the lake below, before rising to the surface.

After about fifteen minutes of this, the sun began to set. Saigyou decided to start exploring again. "I should probably get going," he said. After he jumped ten feet to the ground below, he waved at the two fairies.

"When can you come back? That was incredibly fu–!" Cirno cheered, before stopping mid-sentence at what she saw.

"I'll probably be back... what's wrong?" he asked, worried. The two fairies just pointed behind him. When he turned around, he noticed a young girl. She had blonde hair and a oversized white kimono. What caught his eye, however, was the fact that she had a straw hat with eyes on her head. The girl looked unbelievably pissed, a dark aura emanating from her.

"Who are you and why are you here?" Saigyou asked, visibly unnerved by the girl.

When she spoke, it sent shivers down his spine. In a sadistic voice, she replied, "I'm here to destroy you." She then proceeded to lunge at him. He summoned his blade from the ground, prepared to block the attack. He learned to keep his weapon underground, moving the nearby roots to transport it underneath him. Ten feet away, the girl jumped incredibly high. As she passed overhead, she fired frog-like danmaku below. Saigyou jumped back, narrowly avoiding the attack, and flew straight up at high speed, ramming the dark girl in the gut with the flat end of his sword. She immediately fell to the ground, clutching her stomach in pain. Her hat was still on, for some odd reason.

Saigyou landed next to her. Threateningly, he asked again, pointing the tip of his blade at her head. "Who are you and why are you here!?"

The girl menacingly chuckled, looking up at him from her crouching position. "I... am your worst nightmare... we _will_ meet again soon, Saigyou Ayakashi... and next time... you will not stop me..."

"Wait, how–?" Before he could finish, however, she collapsed to the ground, unconscious. The dark aura dissipated from her, rising into the air. Cautiously, he prodded the girl with his sword. After he got no response, he planted his blade into the ground, which returned into the soil below. Daiyousei and Cirno dashed towards the aftermath.

"Yeah! Take that, frog lady!" Cirno taunted the knocked out figure.

Daiyousei's reaction was a more concerning one. "This is very unlike her," she said as she bent down to check on the girl. "She never attacks first."

"Who is this girl?" he asked Daiyousei.

She replied, "Her name is Suwako Moriya. From what I've heard, she's the god of the Moriya Shrine on the mountains."

"I see..." Saigyou said, trailing off. "What was with that dark aura around her?"

"I don't know. Whatever it was, it's gone now," she assured.

"I doubt it," he interjected. "I fear that whatever it was is still out there." He turned around to leave. "Make sure the girl is okay. I need to do something."

Daiyousei turned her head from the girl, only to find Saigyou long gone.

* * *

AN: Wow, this chapter is slightly longer that the last one. Thank you to all those who reviewed my story so far. It really motivates me to dish out chapters more efficiently. I would also like to say that in the next chapters, SHIT IS GOING TO GO DOWN!! That is all.

Oh, and a hint at what is going to happen is hidden in the chapter. It's in very small text.


End file.
